In Defense of Wilhelm Reich is an intelligent, well-written summary of Wilhelm
Reich's life, work and persecution. It is a powerhouse of scholarship,
insight, meticulous historical detail, unapologetic political
incorrectness, a relentless effort to stick to the facts, and,
for newcomers to Reich, life-changing information. It is easily
the most comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the entire body
of Reich's controversial yet profoundly practical scientific achievements.

The book's Timeline (Chapter Two) provides
a clear exposition of all of Reich's major discoveries. I especially
like the pithy, single-page "textboxes" that pepper
the chapter. These alone give an immediate appreciation of the
amazing scope of what Reich accomplished. They include his sex-economic
discoveries; the foundational role of the orgasm in bioenergy
regulation; Reich's remarkable bioelectrical experiments; his
bion discoveries on cancer, the origin of the cancer cell and
the origins of life; the orgone accumulator anomalies, biological
effects and health benefits; and the discovery of the life energy
in the organism, atmosphere and cosmos. One finds answers to questions
modern researchers have been grappling with for centuries. One
also finds an equally comprehensive collection of the attacks
on Reich, detailing who exactly put his persecution into play
and who keeps it in play today, with names named, dots connected
and documentation provided. Chapter Three documents the full range
of confirmations of Reich's discoveries, both before and after
Reich's death - including reference to modern day discoveries
where Reich's priority remains unacknowledged.

Chapter Four is in some ways the most
important chapter in the book. It includes a devastating expose'
of the most recent attacks against Reich, as triggered by Christopher
Turner's Adventures in the Orgasmatron. Turner's book masqueraded
as scholarship in a particularly insidious way - it actually mixed
up selected facts about Reich with a heavy dose of outright fabrications
and slanders. Turner's entire book was in essence a resurrection
of the original 1947 Mildred Brady smears against Reich, merged
with an even more scurrilous set of claims. One has to ask, what
motivated Turner to go to all that trouble, to slander a scientist
who has been dead for over sixty years? Well that is discussed
in Dr. DeMeo's book, and in uncompromising terms.

For example, there is the refreshingly
straightforward and unapologetic discussion of Reich's findings
on emotional and sexual health, i.e., on what Reich called genitality.
DeMeo contrasts Reich's findings with those of the famous sex-researcher
Alfred Kinsey (whom Turner is very friendly to) detailing where
Kinsey differed with Reich in his claims about human sexuality.
For example, unlike Reich, Kinsey's definition of orgasm excluded
any concerns for love or emotions. DeMeo also documents how Kinsey
gave support to pornography and pedophilia, along with other behaviors
which Reich considered to be neurotic, sadistic or criminal. One
cannot find a more diametrically opposed understanding of sexuality
and emotional health. The point is made, to understand the direction
the Western world took in its social and policy-making trends
in the second half of the 20th century, one has to understand
it was Kinsey's influence and claims, and not Reich's, that lead
to the destructive results authors like Turner insist on deceptively
ascribing to Reich.

DeMeo's chapter on Turner also documents
the crucial fact that Turner, like every other skeptic before
him, cites NONE of the extensive supporting evidence and positive
confirmations for Reich's clinical and experimental findings.
This is especially important because, one of the oldest tricks
employed by Reich's detractors is the lie of omission. This is
especially destructive in Turner's case because his book was wrongly
touted as an exhaustive, authoritative and scholarly biography
of Reich! For the honest scholars and generally interested reader,
In Defense of Wilhelm Reich" contains a wealth of
supporting links and resources to positive replications.

The final chapters detail historically
recent slanders and distortions, including those found in sources
like the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

What I also found enlightening is DeMeo's
use of eye-opening historical context, i.e., his highlighting
of known historical facts that have not yet been integrated as
a whole into Western history, culture and popular consciousness.
For example, the Timeline chapter includes brief but clarifying
insight into the secret working relationship between Hitler and
Stalin, and also between Lenin and the German High Command after
WWI - active, working relationships aimed at world domination
that lead to the carnage of WWII. There is also material on the
Marxist-Communist betrayals of the early sex- and family-law reformers;
a comparison of the adoption of these reforms in Capitalist America
vs. their rejection in the retrograde Socialist and Communist
countries; and much on Reich's relationship to the Communists,
i.e., what he knew and didn't know at the time about Marx and
the Soviets - another major contribution.

More than a book about Reich's persecution,
In Defense of Wilhelm Reich serves as an indictment of
the highly destructive yet profoundly seductive sociopolitical
forces throughout our society that interfere daily with human
freedom and happiness, forces which Reich collectively explained
as the Emotional Plague. The central myth about Reich -
that of the "sex-crazed quack gone mad" - is the perfect
example. The negative response to Reich by many otherwise decent
people today is, in actuality, a response to this fake "Reich"
conjured up by the Plague. The real Reich is certainly controversial
and emotionally challenging, due to his honest and penetrating
analysis of humanity's deep-seated neurotic and psychosexually-driven
frustrations and self-destructive tendencies. But that is a far
cry from Reich being a "pornographic, sex-crazed charlatan"!
The latter is a myth needed by the Emotional Plague and authors
like Turner, to steer otherwise decent people away from the work
and discoveries of one of history's most remarkable and productive
psychiatrists and natural scientists.

I want to mention one other thing.
Reich himself stated his FDA trial and persecution were initiated
and organized by Moscow-driven Communist cells in the USA. Contrary
to the popular assumption that Reich was delusional, and that
his downfall and persecution were driven by a right-wing, sex-hating,
McCarthy-inspired, Christian conservative conspiracy, Reich has
since been proven correct. This is most thoroughly documented
in a recent book by researcher James Martin, Wilhelm Reich
and the Cold War (second edition subtitled: "The True
Story of How a Communist Spy Team, Government Hoodlums and Sick
Psychiatrists Destroyed Sexual Science and Cosmic Life Energy
Discoveries"). In Defense of Wilhelm Reich provides
further supporting evidence to both Reich's assertions and Martin's
extensive findings on the Communist conspiracy, connecting even
more dots in a series of history-changing events that murdered
and nearly completely destroyed the life's work of one of histories
most original and prolific scientists. While people of all political
persuasions certainly played a role in Reich's downfall, the demonstrable
fact is it was the Communist Left who most actively conspired
to destroy Reich, and as Dr. DeMeo shows, continues to work to
destroy him today.

The power of In Defense of Wilhelm
Reich is that, like the best theatrical and cinematic productions,
it's theme is universal. It is classic "Good vs. Evil",
except in the case of Reich, the transcendent nature of the drama
is no fiction. It is the product of two powerful, but very real
forces one rarely finds in such total opposition to each other:
the relentless and uncompromising nature of Wilhelm Reich, his
work and his genuinely profound discoveries, and the relentless,
uncompromising compulsion of the Emotional Plague to destroy all
three. Part of Dr. DeMeo's contribution, supported by his extensive
background and lifelong experience in orgonomic research, is the
fact he too is as relentless about sticking to the facts as the
enemies of Reich and life-energy science are in hiding, obscuring,
altering and destroying them. While nothing beats reading Reich's
works first hand, for those who would like a broad yet profoundly
satisfying overview and summary all in one place, this is the
book for you. I give it my highest recommendation, to both novice
and professional -- for those who want a fact-based introduction
to whom Reich was and what he achieved, and for professionals
and others with a life-long commitment to applying and advancing
this man's remarkable discoveries and contributions to humanity.